UNRWA chief told Hamas and Islamic Jihad: “We are united and no one can separate us”

As part of several documents released today from a larger trove exposing UNRWA’s widespread complicity with terrorists, UN Watch has revealed that UNRWA’s previous head Pierre Krahenbuhl met repeatedly with leaders of Palestinian terrorist organizations, including one meeting where he called for their covert partnership and unity. The practice has continued under UNRWA’s current commissioner Philippe Lazzarini.

At a gathering in Beirut in February 2017, Krahenbuhl met with the Hamas chief of foreign relations, Ali Baraka, who was recently indicted by the U.S. government for “heinous crimes.” Baraka managed Hamas ties with Tehran and other regimes including Syria and Iraq. Days after the Hamas massacre of October 7th, Baraka claimed that the group had been planning the attack for two years, and he revealed the existence since 2021 of a Palestinian Joint Operations Room among the various factions. “We made them think that Hamas was busy with governing Gaza, and that it wanted to focus on the 2.5 million Palestinians there, and has abandoned the resistance altogether. All the while, under the table, Hamas was preparing for this big attack,” said Baraka.

The head of UNRWA at the same gathering also met with Abu Imad al-Rifai, the leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Lebanon, who boasted about sending a wave of suicide bombers to Baghdad in 2003 to kill American and British troops.

If their meetings were to be publicized, said Krahenbuhl, who now heads the International Red Cross, that “could challenge our credibility” — and “lead to a loss of trust between donor countries and UNRWA, which might result in reduced or even terminated funding.”

In the discussions with the terror chiefs, Krahenbuhl acknowledged that UNRWA’s role was not primarily about aid distribution. “We will not abandon the role entrusted to us, to be the historical witness to the injustice that has befallen the Palestinian people,” he said.

We will not abandon the role entrusted to us, to be the historical witness to the injustice that has befallen the Palestinian people…

Regarding the principle of partnership you mentioned, and the necessity of being proactive so that we remain cooperative and not caught off guard, I completely agree with you and strongly support this perspective. I also have a request: that the spirit of partnership be mutual.

In other words, if you have any criticisms, observations, concerns, or issues you are dissatisfied with regarding UNRWA, let us come back and meet in similar gatherings—even if we meet a thousand times. Challenge our decisions, tell us, “We do not agree with this decision, and we criticize it.” We might change it or even entirely tear it up.

But we want the spirit of partnership to prevail in our meetings.

We also prefer these discussions not to be public, as that could challenge our credibility. More importantly, it could lead to a loss of trust between donor countries and UNRWA, which might result in reduced or even halted funding.

Your cooperation with us in security matters and your commitment to not closing UNRWA institutions, facilities, schools, or offices also completes this partnership.

If we can achieve this, it means we are united, and no one can separate us.

Source » unwatch.org